You say Aleppey, I say Alappuzha

Aleppey is the central town for the backwaters of Kerala, centered on Lake Vembanad.
As we see in the overpainted column in the train station, the town's name was recently changed to reflect its name in the local dialect.

The train station welcomed us with season's greetings.

We arrived at our B&B to find the owner scolding us for e-mailing rather than telephoning our confirmation! We settled in under the mosquito net and ceiling fan, explored the town.


Coleman liked the several large nativity scenes in front of various businesses.

I enjoyed the United Carol Singing celebration on the YMCA basketball court, with two stages running, and a large attentive crowd for the loudly amplified and earnest singing in Malayalam.

Alappuzha is sandwiched between ocean and lake. We went to the beautiful beach.

The boys particularly wanted some ice cream, as it was named after their Uncle John!

Lake Vembanad has a small outlet to the bay of Cochin, now regulated by a series of locks. In olden days, small cargo boats plied the waters -- but in more recent times those boats have been converted to overnight hotels.
We splurged on an overnight trip, and what a pleasant luxury!
Barbara thoroughly relaxed, on viewing the sunset over the rice paddies.

The next morning we saw workers commuting to their rice paddies
...


And we couldn't resist taking a photo of St.Thomas lakeside church.

For the full photo album, click here